Coping in an Age of Uncertainty

I just went for improving the sound of standard CD playback within my budget. I have only used CD as a source for the past year, so it is all pretty new to me. My "big" investment was a used Bel Canto DAC which I run from a CAL player. I buy most of our CD's on the used market (just picked up seven today) and will continue to fill our music library in this manner. If I were paying list price for CD's we would probably only own 10%, if that, of what we have accumulated in the past eight months. In the same vein we also have well over 200 feet of book shelves in our apartment (filled mostly with books purchased on the used market). We do not have a lot of main stream "hits" in our music library, but we do have a wide selection of interesting music to chose from. I would love to have the option of playing the SACD disks that I hear sound wonderful (I have only auditioned the first top loading model that was available in my area and did not care for the sound in either format, though I don't beleive that it was properly run in). I have yet to see any feedback as to the new players sounding as good as or better than my CAL/Bel Canto combo when performing standard CD playback, which is why these players do not interest me. To be honest I really can't stand the sound of most CD players anyway, with the exception of a small handfull of them, my combo included. The part of the unit that plays movies/vidios is also of zero interest to me unless it would assist in playing a musical format in the future. If a reasonably priced multi player unit came out that sounded as good as or better than (to me) a Theta Miles, Resolution Audio CD50 or Linn Numerik (for example) when playing back standard CD's, plus sound super with SACD, then it would interest me.

You have stated in other threads that you have quit an investment in HI-FI. Buy a used Sony 777 or Sony SCD-1 for between $1500 to $2700. The music that is available on SACD sound much better than CD's. If SACD doesn't survive sell the SACD player for what ever you can get, but enjoy the SACD while you can. Maybe with your vast connections you can pursued the music companies to stick with SACD.

I've pretty much been a vinyl guy and ignored digital playback for quite a while. However, there is such a vast library of great music on CD and so much more being produced (and reproduced) every day, that I finally broke down and sought out the best CD playback I could find without being completely insane about it. That happened to be the Ayre D-1, which is awfully expensive but does a tremendous job of CD playback and has the added benefits of DVD-A playback (better still) and terrific DVD video. (although I don't take advantage of that capability).

I'm happy. SACD is probably better and may win the next format war, but I must say that, in my experience, CD playback through SACD players is mediocre at best compared to most of the really good CD only players out there. Moreover, it will be many, many, many years before the library of SACD goods will be large enough to "open up" your collection of music the way my excellent CD/DVD player has opened up mine.

If one must have SACD, maybe the answer is to combine a SACD player with a good external DAC that will raise the level of the CD playback. I've decided not to bother but rather to get the best CD playback I can justify and then sit back and enjoy my record collection and some of the many genuinely wonderful CDs now being made until the next format becomes so dominant that I need it to get the music I want. In other words, my advice would be to wait for the music to dictate what you need. I went to CD because there was just too much music I couldn't get unless I did so.

There is no format war among audiophiles sacd is the clear cut winner and there is no debate about it check out www.widescreenreveiw.com/todaynews/audperf04.html you will not find a sole on earth who says dvd-a is better so like i said a vote to sit on the fence on this issue is a vote for whatever crap format the industry decides. Anybody who sits on the fence has no right to complain in the future about quality of whatever format we end up with.